Tag Making Excuses

How to Stop Making Excuses

Steve Keating 1 Comment

It has been said that a person who is good at making excuses is seldom good for anything else. Make no mistake about this absolute fact… making excuses is habit-forming. Making excuses is demoralizing, for the excuse maker and the people who have to listen to them. Excuse-making limits a person’s potential.

It’s just not good to make excuses. Ever!

Before we look at how to stop making excuses, let’s make sure we are all on the same page about exactly what an excuse sounds like.

Let’s say you have two employees who show up to a meeting late. The first one says, “sorry I’m late; the traffic was terrible. There was nothing I could do.” THAT’S AN EXCUSE. It indicates that the employee accepts no responsibility for being late. It indicates that the employee is likely to be late again. It shows a lack of respect for those who may have had to wait on him. It’s not an attitude that aligns well with success.

The second employee arrives a bit later. They are profusely apologetic. Embarrassed even. They also say the traffic was terrible. They say that they failed to consider potential traffic problems and did not leave home early enough. They commit to not making that mistake again. THAT IS A REASON. It indicates that the employee accepts full responsibility for being late. It indicates that the employee is unlikely to be late again. It demonstrates an understanding that they may have caused an inconvenience for others. It shows an attitude in excellent alignment with success.

There are indeed reasons why things don’t always go according to plan. Understanding those reasons helps you avoid them in the future. You maintain power over your circumstances rather than allowing circumstances to control you.

Excuses indicate a lack of control over your circumstances. Repeatedly making excuses puts you right on the edge of permanent victimhood. You lose the opportunity to control your circumstances and allow them to dictate the quality of your career and even your life.

If you’re currently an excuse maker, I have good news: you can break that habit with better choices and stronger effort.

You’ll need a mindset shift and a conscious, continuous effort to take responsibility for your actions and choices. If you’re interested in eliminating excuses from your life, here are some practical steps to help you do just that.

1. Acknowledge the Excuse Habit

• Self-awareness is key. Pay attention to when and why you make excuses. Is it due to fear, a lack of motivation, or the desire to avoid discomfort? Identifying patterns will help you address them more effectively.

2. Take Responsibility

• Own your choices and circumstances. Instead of blaming external factors or people, acknowledge that you’re in control of your actions. This helps shift the mindset from victimhood to empowerment.

3. Change Your Self-talk

• The language you use internally affects how you approach challenges. Replace phrases like “I can’t” or “I don’t have time” with more empowering statements like “I will make time” or “I’ll find a way to overcome this.”

4. Set Clear, Achievable Goals

• Excuses often arise when goals are vague or unrealistic. Break your larger goals into smaller, actionable steps. Clear, realistic goals give you direction and make it harder to justify excuses.

5. Plan and Prioritize

• Poor planning can lead to excuses. Develop a daily or weekly schedule, prioritize tasks, and stick to it. When you’re organized, you’re less likely to feel overwhelmed and make excuses to avoid tasks.

6. Hold Yourself Accountable

• Accountability is crucial. Share your goals with someone you trust, or track your own progress with a journal or app. When you’re accountable, there’s less room for excuses.

7. Embrace Discomfort

• Growth often requires stepping out of your comfort zone. Accept that discomfort is part of the process. Instead of avoiding challenges or blaming circumstances, lean into them knowing they’ll make you stronger.

8. Face Your Fears

• Excuses often mask fear—fear of failure, rejection, or even success. Recognize your fears and confront them head-on. Once you understand what you’re afraid of, you can take steps to move past it.

9. Develop a “Problem-Solving” Mindset

• Shift from focusing on the problem to finding solutions. When you encounter obstacles, instead of making excuses, ask yourself, “How can I overcome this?” This proactive mindset minimizes the tendency to rationalize inaction.

10. Surround Yourself with Motivated People

• Your environment influences your behavior. Spend time with people who hold themselves accountable and are goal-driven. Their discipline and attitude will inspire you to take ownership of your actions too.

11. Celebrate Progress, Not Perfection

• Expecting perfection can lead to frustration and excuses when things don’t go as planned. Celebrate your efforts and progress, even if they’re small. This positive reinforcement keeps you motivated and reduces the need for excuses.

12. Forgive Yourself and Move Forward

• If you fall into the trap of making excuses, don’t dwell on it. Forgive yourself and use the experience as a learning opportunity. Refocus on your goals and take the next best step forward.

You, like every other person on the planet, have incredible potential. Every time you make an excuse, you limit that potential. Don’t do that to yourself. Start taking control of your goals, actions, and attitude, and you’ll stop limiting your success.

You can do it; the question is… will you?

One-Time
Monthly
Yearly

Consider supporting my efforts with a donation!
I put a significant amount of time and effort into writing a couple of blog posts each week. My primary goal is simple, to help other people. That doesn’t mean a little financial support isn’t appreciated. If you’ve benefited from my efforts and think my posts are valuable, I’d certainly appreciate whatever support you might be able to offer.
But whether you can offer support or not, I’ll continue to try and write a blog that gives back, informs and sometimes even entertains. I hope you enjoy it!

Make a monthly donation

Make a yearly donation

Choose an amount

$5.00
$15.00
$100.00
$5.00
$15.00
$100.00
$5.00
$15.00
$100.00

Or enter a custom amount

$

Your contribution is appreciated.

Your contribution is appreciated.

Your contribution is appreciated.

DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearly

Do Your People Have Reasons or Just Make Excuses?

Steve Keating 3 Comments

Successful people have reasons why they made a mistake or something went wrong. Less successful people make excuses.

When someone shows up late to a meeting or an event they have two choices, they can make an excuse or provide a reason. Let’s say you have an employee who is late for work. A less engaged employee might say, “The traffic was terrible and that’s why I was late.” At first glance that may appear to be a reason but it’s really just an excuse. 

An excuse makes a victim of the employee who was late and I’d be willing to bet that wasn’t the first time that employee was late and it certainly won’t be the last. An excuse has the undercurrent of “it’s not my fault, it’s not my responsibility and there’s nothing I can do to prevent it from happening again. 

The excuse says that if you as their leader try to hold them responsible for being on time it is YOU who are being unreasonable. YOU need to adjust your thinking and YOU need to be more flexible and understanding. After all, they can do nothing to control the traffic and blaming them is almost being abusive. 

It’s amazing to me how often that “shifting of responsibility” works. Many managers back off at that point and allow the tardiness to continue. Authentic Leaders know that if they do not hold their people accountable they are failing in one of the primary responsibilities of leadership. That is the responsibility of establishing accountability!

When the more engaged employee arrives late they provide a reason for being late. They may say, “The traffic was terrible and I failed to allow for that possibility. As a result I did not leave early enough and I was late. I will not make that mistake again.” 

Providing a reason for being late includes an acceptance of responsibility.  It includes a commitment to do whatever is required to be on time going forward. 

As a leader it is important that you understand the difference between an excuse and a reason. An excuse means nothing is likely to change. A reason means responsibility has been accepted and improvement will at least be attempted. 

Determining if you’ve been given an excuse or a reason requires that you listen intently to your people. You must focus on what’s being said and often, on how it’s being said. Failure to listen, truly listen, is the most common cause of poor coaching on the part of a leader. 

You can not help your people grow by accepting weak excuses. Excuses erase accountability and lead only to more excuses. Help your people understand the difference between an excuse and a reason. You’ll then be helping them be more successful for your organization and for themselves. 

Easier Said Than Done

Steve Keating 2 Comments

I shouldn’t be, but I often am, surprised at how many people respond to a blog post or something I post on Twitter by telling me “that’s easier said than done.”

 

That got me to thinking…yes I know that scares a lot of people….but it got me to thinking about what is easier to do than it is to say. I’m stumped! It seems to me that everything is easier said than done. In fact, it seems to me that the biggest accomplishments are way easier said than done. 

 

It’s far easier for anyone to say they are going to do something than it is to actually do it. That’s especially true for things that are worth doing. 

 

When I hear the response “that’s easier said than done” I’m almost certain that the person saying it will never know how easy or hard it is to do because they have no intention of even trying. 

 

I know some of you won’t like hearing this but “easier said than done” is an excuse and a poor one at that. It provides people with the cover they need to do nothing. Except in the long run that “cover” turns out to be as transparent as glass. 

 

If you’re reading this you should know that the device you’re reading it on wouldn’t even exist if the person or people who invented it had bought into the “easier said than done” excuse. 

 

Pretty much everything you take for granted today was once thought impossible and it would still be impossible if the person who overcame that seeming impossibility had accepted the lazy excuse of “that’s easier said than done.”

 

So what’s one thing in your life you would like to change if only it wasn’t easier said then done? 


Clear you mind of the success limiting thinking of “easier said than done” and just do it. Once you’ve accomplished it, once you made that change, once you’ve succeeded it won’t matter anymore how hard it was; it will be done. Even better than that, YOU will have done it! 

Excuses Steal Your Potential

Steve Keating 17 Comments

I can’t think of even a single benefit of excuse making. People who make excuses make very little of anything else. Excuses, as much as anything, limit a person’s opportunity to reach their full potential.

 

Excuses are rationalizations we make to ourselves about people, events, and circumstances. They are invented reasons we create to defend our behavior, to postpone taking action or simply as a means of avoiding responsibility.

 

Excuses are a temporarily effective method of placing the blame for an internal problem on an external condition. I say temporarily because sooner or later the excuse maker realizes whatever excuse they made was really a lie they told themselves….and likely lots of other people. 

 

Fear is the biggest driver of habitual excuse making. Fear of failure, fear of change, fear of responsibility, fear of making mistakes, fear of looking foolish, and for some people, fear of success. 

 

Excuse making leads directly to a lack of growth. It leads to living in a very small comfort zone and it is a leading cause of a negative attitude in the excuse maker. People who hesitate to make decisions seldom delay in making an excuse. 

 

Nothing good comes from making excuses. 

 

If you want to stop making excuses then focus on what can go right rather than what may go wrong. Don’t compare your current situation with a past situation that had a negative outcome. 

 

Don’t focus on problems. Focus on solutions and opportunities to learn and improve. 

 

If you want to put a stop to your excuse making then surround yourself with as many positive people as possible. Share with them your goal of making fewer excuses and ask them for help. Ask them to remind you of your goal whenever they hear what sounds like an excuse coming from you. 

 

Finally, make the decision to control your attitude. Every day you have the opportunity to choose either a positive attitude or a negative one. It’s likely your most important choice of the day. 

 

Successful people don’t make excuses. They take responsibility for their decisions and actions and they learn from their mistakes. 


Always remember, if you’re making excuses you almost certainly are not making much of anything else. 

 

 

Are You Too?

Steve Keating 2 Comments

The excuses I hear most often when someone can’t or won’t do something usually have the word “too” in them somewhere. As in, “I’m too busy.” Or “I’m too old to learn.” Or “I’m too important to do that job.”

 

Here’s what the most successful people would tell you…. no one is “too” for anything. 

 

I understand that sometimes we don’t want to do something. I also understand that sometimes we don’t have a good reason for not wanting to do it. I get that’s why we make excuses. 

 

But geez, if you’re not going to put any effort into doing the thing you don’t want to do at least put some effort into a better excuse. 

 

I remember the story about George Steinbrenner the long-time owner of the New York Yankees who passed away in 2010. A group was visiting Yankee Stadium and for whatever reason no one was available to show them around. Steinbrenner offered to do it himself. 

 

While attempting to lead the group across the field they were stopped by security. Mr Steinbrenner was informed he didn’t have the proper credentials to cross the field. The security guard directed him to take the group back up the long stairs and walk the long way around the stadium. 

 

The guard didn’t recognize the owner of the team. Rather than pull the “don’t you know who I am” card Steinbrenner dutifully lead his group all the way back up and around the stadium. He wasn’t too important to give a tour and he wasn’t so important that he felt the need to embarrass the security guard who was merely doing his job. 

 

George Steinbrenner wasn’t too important to do any job.

 

I recall years ago meeting a man who would become a good friend and mentor. He was already arguably the very best salesperson who ever lived. He had sold billions, yes billions, in life insurance yet I met him in a sales training program. He was well over 60 years of age at the time. I expressed a little surprise that someone of his “experience” would be in a sales course. He said, “well, intelligence begins with the knowledge that you’re never too old to learn.” 

 

He was in a sales training program to learn, one that I was going to help teach, yet that single sentence taught me more than I could ever teach him.

 

As for those who feel they are “too busy” I have very little sympathy for you. No one has more time than you! Everyone has 1440 minutes a day. The people who manage to get everything important done in that amount of time have simply stopped long enough to learn how to prioritize. 

 

They know what’s important and they know that most things aren’t important. They are never “too” to accomplish what they need to do to succeed. 

 

The most successful people don’t make excuses, they make things happen. They are never too busy, too tired, too old, or too important to do the things that less successful people simply don’t like to do. 


So…are you too?


The Bad Habit of Excuse Making

Steve Keating 7 Comments

Making excuses is habit forming and it’s as destructive a habit as almost any habit you could have. If you’re working for someone who accepts your excuses then you’re working for someone who is doing you a tremendous disservice. 

 

If you’re a leader do not accept “can’t” from the people you influence. Rather help them turn their can’t into can by focusing on what is possible. Don’t allow the people who you claim to lead to use the fact that they can’t do it all, as an excuse to do less than they possibly can.

 

There is only so much time in a day and when it’s spent making excuses then it’s not invested in making progress. 

 

And speaking of time, that is the worst excuse of all, because no one in this world has more time than you. (Before you tell yourself that’s not true stop for a moment and think about it) You absolutely do not lack time, what you most likely lack is the ability to prioritize and the ability to distinguish between what’s merely urgent and what’s truly important.

 

People who lack these abilities usually end up doing the easy stuff that accomplishes little while finding excuses for not doing the more difficult things that can lead to greatness. They feel busy because they are doing “stuff” all day long but if they are honest with themselves at the end of the day they will realize that most of that “stuff” was just a distraction from what they actually should have been doing.

 

The real problem starts when you begin believing your own excuses. Take the “not enough time” excuse as an example… you feel pressured because you “can’t” get everything you want done when you want. You spend a great deal of time lamenting this “fact” rather than investing a few minutes to prioritize your activities to align them with your goals. You don’t accomplish what you want and you use that as proof that you don’t have enough time. 

 

You end up using one excuse to justify another excuse neither of which are valid. Breaking the bad habit of excuse making requires a tremendous amount of honesty….with yourself. It’s a tough habit to break and many people don’t try because the people around them accept their excuses. 

 

If that’s the case with you then I have some really basic advice for you. Just do something. Doing anything, even making a mistake, is better than doing nothing because a mistake can be fixed while it’s pretty hard to fix nothing. You don’t have to know where your path to success ends to start on your way; just do the next right thing and once you’ve done that then do it again and again.

 

Pretty soon you’ll see where you’re going and you’ll be able to develop a plan to get there even sooner.

 

When your mindset becomes one of “can’t” then you’ve virtually assured yourself that you won’t. When you convince yourself that you can’t or you have excuses prepared before you even try to succeed then you willingly sacrifice your potential for success.

 

I heard someone say that success comes in cans and failure comes in “can’ts”. I don’t recall who said it but I agree with them 100%!

 

Never let the fact that you can’t do it all prevent you from doing all that you can. When you start down that path of doing all that you can you may just discover that you can do a whole lot more than you ever thought possible. 

 

I understand that the “tone” of this post may feel a little harsh; accepting excuses in place of progress is even harsher. Don’t do that to yourself because odds are you are capable of so much more!